Breaking the Silence
by TheTickoftheClock
Summary: Max doesn't speak. Ever since her father Roger ruined her voice. But when her step-dad changes her from Therapy School to Public School, will things only get worse? Or is Middle School nothing like the stereotypical picture America makes it out to be? IS UP FOR ADOPTION. I am not continuing this myself.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is a story I've been working on for a while, but I don't know when I'll be able to update. I'm almost done the fourth chapter, and I'll post the others as fast as I can. **

**Yes, I know this is a stinky introduction, but I'm getting tired of just saying, "Hey guys! It's Dezzy." So pretend I did that, and then I'll make you cupcakes.  
**

**Loljaykay, you can't have my cupcakes.  
**

**Yeah, and sorry for the abruptness in the beginning. Just go with it.  
**

**And I know this is probably a cliche story idea, but it's really good, not to toot my own horn... I love that saying...  
**

**All the underlined things are when Max is signing. 'Kay?  
**

**And I wrote this a while ago, so it might not be in mint-condition... But you'll love it, alright?  
**

**Oh, and because this is required: I don't own po-go sticks, Friendly's, or Maximum Ride.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

"Max honey, time to wake up!" My mom called up the stairs. Nooo... my sweet, warm bed. I threw a stuffed animal at the door to let her know I was up. No, it wasn't an anger thing. We both knew that all too well.  
When I was ten, my father, Roger, started to... hit me. He hit my throat with his elbow one night, and my mom secretly called the cops. I was rushed to the hospital, barely ale to speak. When we got there, they said that if I had any hope of speaking, I'd need to have surgery done on me. It was a new procedure, but they said that they'd try it.  
So they did.  
Bit it didn't help. It got worse. They said their sorries, but my mother was furious. She threatened to sue them, and they pleaded and begged, they didn't want to go through all that court business even if they would probably win anyways. So, mom took a bribe. It was - and still is - the most used hospital in the state and despite the money they had to use on all of the equipment and repairs, had enough to give us monthly checks and pay for me to go to therapy school. So, we moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and bought a huge house. My mom did the work with the police and Roger {who's in jail} to make sure that he and my mother were divorced, and would never have custody of me.  
At the therapy school, my voice got much better. I could speak, but the only people I'd speak to were Angel and my voice instructor. Which, if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to go to this school. Angel, a seven year old who was deaf, was my only friend at school. She was the sweetest little girl.  
But, this is all the past, and right now I have to wake up and smell reality. The reality where my mom stinks at love. Last week, I was fine with school. I could be with Angel, and I didn't have to talk to anyone but her. Of course, school was the only place I could see her. My step-father was... strict about these things.  
Yes, my mother married again. 4 years ago, when my mom divorced Roger, {it'll be 5 years in 3 weeks} she started seeing another guy. Jeb Batchelder. Eventually, he proposed and she became Lilah Batchelder, and I made up my own last name.  
Ride. You know, like the astronaut? Sally Ride?  
Well, a month after their happy marriage, mom came home from work late, and Jeb yelled at her for having an affair. Of course, this wasn't true, mom just had a form to pass in, but Jeb lost his temper and hit my mom. I'd seen it, so he hit me too, and then kicked me really hard. Four and a half years later, here I am, in the bathroom, putting crap-loads of coverup on my exposed skin so that no one at public school will see my bruises.  
Yes, I said public school. On top of being a first-rate jerk, Jeb thought I was having too good a time at therapy school, and wanted me in public school, to "see how real life treats me."  
Oh, and by the way, Jeb is much more thoughtful than Roger. He buys us coverup so we don't "bring attention to ourselves." Always the thoughtful father.  
If you didn't catch that sarcasm there, then I don't think you should be reading this.  
How my mother ever managed to sound cheerful was beyond me.  
At public school, I'll probably be liked less than the people at therapy school. Therapy kids thought I was a snobby girl trying to get attention, even though I had all my senses.  
I'd thrown on some jeans, wincing as they'd come over my thighs, the place Jeb kicked me last night. I pulled on a red tee, some red converse, and a gray sweatshirt. My muscles were sore, but I stood in front of the mirror and made sure I didn't miss any spots with the coverup, and brushed my overlong dirty-blonde hair. It was down to my waist at this point, and I really needed a haircut.  
Mom was in charge of getting all the supplies we would need to blend in. We always had an emergency package of coverup in case we didn't know we were out and needed to go to the store to get more. Mum would also buy loads of makeup to go with it, so it wouldn't look conspicuous.  
I hurried down stairs, past the snores I heard coming from Jeb's room, and into the kitchen, where mum had my bag on the table, packed with all the new school supplies I used to get excited about when I was 7. I smiled at her and took the pieces of toast she had prepared for me. I checked my watch and saw I had 1 minute till the bus should ride by.  
"Time to go?" She asked. I nodded, and she hugged me. I held up the sign that meant "I love you" to her. If you don't know that sign, then something went seriously wrong in your childhood. And that's coming from me.  
I hurried out the door, shoving the toast in my mouth, and sidled down the sidewalk to the 8th grade bus stop. The last time I'd gone to public school, I was in 3rd grade, and almost in 4th. Who knows how I'll do with this.  
A couple other kids were waiting at the stop, a mocha skinned girl who was chatting along to another girl, dutifully blocking out any other sound anyone might have heard. The girl she was talking to had long, black hair, with straight across bangs that I never though looked good on anyone, but surprisingly flattered her very well. There was also a guy there, with spiky red hair. Wait, no, not red, more like a mix of red and blonde. What did they call those? Oh, yeah, strawberry blondes. There was another boy there, however I didn't get to analyze him as the bus pulled up  
Without anyone noticing me, and I hopped on quickly, finding an empty seat near the middle to sit in. I stared out the window as the others got on, and the bus moved again. A couple minutes later, a few more kids got on, one silently plopped down in my seat. The fact that I guy I didn't know was sitting with me, unnerved me.  
I wasn't used to this. I used to be, in fact, I used to be able to beat the guys up when I was in public school before. I got in trouble quite a few times for it, too. But as of late, I don't feel up to the task, especially not when I have an abusive father that's scared us into never revealing anything about our life to anyone.  
I tensed in place and looked over discreetly. He was boring wholes into my skull with his black eyes which her shaded with long black strands of hair. He had olive toned skin, and he was quite nice looking.  
But what I said before still stands.  
I tried to ignore his presence as I turned back to the window. When the bus pulled up to the middle-school, I headed to the office where I'd been once before, and I saw Mrs. Strat typing at her desk, looking intently at the screen. She looked up and smiled behind her glasses.  
"Hello Maximum, ready?" She asked. I nodded and she signed "Good," letter by letter. All the teachers were learning sign language. It was very thoughtful, but it also meant that I'd have to be doing it by letter, too.

* * *

She showed me around school and told me where each of the classes I'd have on my schedule would be. I really wish I'd been paying attention.  
She towed me to Mr. Maxwell's class, for science first period and introduced me to the class.  
"Class, this is the lovely Ms. Ride, your new classmate. I'd like you to make her feel welcome here," she said, thankfully leaving out the part that I didn't speak. Mr. Maxwell smiled at me and I gave a weak one back.  
"You may sit in the back with Alexander, Ms. Ride." He said once Ms. Strat left. I looked to where he pointed, and saw the guy who sat with me on the bus sitting there. Beside him there was an empty seat and I walked over to it, my smile flitting away.  
Mr. Maxwell plopped a science text book on my desk and walked up to the front of the room. "Page 143, Ms. Ride." I nodded and sat down, wincing at the uncomfortable chairs. They did nothing for my sore muscles. I flipped to page 143 in the text book and took out one of my new notebooks from my bag. I hadn't put anything in my locker yet, not wanting to get lost or be late to class and then still not have my supplies.  
This notebook was black and red and had a bunny on it. Happy Bunny. I love Happy Bunny. I took out a black inky pen and started to take notes when the guy clad in all black next to me slid a piece of paper over to me.  
_What's your name?_ It read.  
I looked over at him and he was staring at the bored as Mr. Maxwell spoke and drew circles. I wrote down my answer, thankful I wouldn't have to reveal I couldn't speak yet.  
_Maximum Ride, you?_  
He took the note and read it, scrawling his answer. Passing it back, my stomach flipped in what I was assuming was unease. But, who knew, I don't know how normal girls feel when they talk to guys, so this might just be normal.  
Yeah, my stomach doing gymnastics was just normal.  
_Fang._

* * *

After two blocks of science, I went out into the hall with my bag slung over my shoulder, and started going to the left. I continued down the hall looking for room #21. Finally, since it seemed most of these numbers needed to be painted on again, because I couldn't read them at all, I sat down against a wall, frustrated.  
The door in front of me swung open and someone I knew well stood above me.

"Max?" Mrs. Childs' shocked face stared at my equally shocked one and smiled. "What're you doing here?" She asked, closing the door behind her, and giving me a hand to help me up. Then I hugged her, something I don't do to many people.  
I signed my answer to her.  
"Jeb switched me to public," I stalled, thinking of an excuse. "He thought I was ready."  
She nodded and smiled at me. "Well that's great!"  
At this point, you might be smashing the screen to know how I know Mrs. Childs. Well, you know Angel? My only friend from therapy school? Angel is Mrs. Childs daughter. I got to see her all the time whenever she picked Angel up. We'd even talked together for a while. Well, "talked" isn't the right word, but you know.  
So Mrs. Childs is a math teacher... Well it tips the balance of the "I hate math" scale, so at least I have someone who can understand me.  
"I was just gonna go search the halls for my new student! Guess I found her."  
"Yeah, these doors need to have repainted numbers." She laughed, and I smiled. She opened the door for me, and led me in. Bringing me over to her desk, she took a look at a paper titled "Seating Chart", black lines indicating where desks were, with names on them. Each group of desks faced each other in fours, I'm assuming so that we could have help from peers when we did homework. That's the same way it was in therapy school.  
"Max, why weren't you in homeroom this morning?" She said looking up at me. I looked at her pointedly, seeing as I couldn't sign much with my bag and notebooks in my hands. "Oh, tour, right. Okay..." She took one last look at the seating chart and brought me over to a group of desks with a chair free.  
"Lissa's not here today?" She asked the dark haired boy I had been sat with earlier, Fang. The dark haired girl from the bus stop was there too, and so was a blonde boy who looked really familiar, but I couldn't place him. Fang shook his head, and the dark haired girl across from him looked me in the eyes. I tried a smile.  
"Okay, well, Max, this'll be your seat from now on. Besides, between you and me, he's been searching for a legitimate excuse to get Lissa to sit somewhere else." She whispered the last part to me. I smiled, sitting down across from the blonde haired boy, and next to Fang.  
"Hi, I'm Ella! It's nice to meet you!" She stuck a tan arm out to me, and I shook her hand awkwardly. I smiled at her again.  
"Ella, will you tell Max how we do the starters?" Mrs. Childs interrupted from her desk.  
"Sure!" She looked back to me again, and I noticed everyone had a notebook on their desk. I got one out quickly, and grabbed my pen. "Okay, Max, right?" I nodded. "Right, so, each day, we look up on the board and see a word-problem we call starters. We always start the class with them, because it helps us keep focused on math, and we write each one on a page in our starter notebook, then put them in the second cubby to the right up there," she explained, pointing to a shelf over Mrs. Childs desk. I smiled, something I'd done a lot more of in the last 2 hours than I had in the past 5 years. She pointed up to the board. "So, just copy that down on a page in your notebook with the date, and then see if you can figure it out. Feel free to ask us for help, if you want."  
I nodded and smiled at her. No one had been so nice to me before. I knew that if I played my cards right, I'd want to be her friend.  
The blonde across from me looked up. "By the way, you can slap a hand over her mouth any time you want. She talks a lot." He smiled, blue eyes shining in mischief. "Thomas." He waved.

0:0:0

I finished the starter and looked at my handiwork.  
"Who knows the answer to the starter?" Mrs. Childs asked over the whispers of the class. I was gonna put my hand up, but then remembered that I was trying not to draw attention.  
"Hey," Thomas said from in front of me. "Tell Mrs. Childs your answer." I shook my head.  
"Yeah, come on, she'd like that. Takes guts to speak up your first day. Right or wrong." Ella smiled encouragingly. Well, when everyone's gonna shove it down my throat! Even Fang, the man of few words, {not that I should be talking} even nudged me.  
"Yeah, why not?" His deep voice inquired.  
Tentatively, I raised my hand as Mrs. Childs scanned the room for takers.  
"Yes, Max?" I heard her ask.  
I swallowed, hesitating, then signed out my answer and listened as the kids in the class whispered.  
Yeah, maybe I wasn't going to fit in.

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**R&R? Because you love me and want to appreciate this?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! No reviews yet, but I hope I get some soon. **

**SO: If you like this and want it to continue, just review and tell me!  
**

**DISCLAIMER FOR GOODNESS SAKES.  
**

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**Chapter 2:**

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my group look at me with shock. I looked down at my hands and blushed.  
"Yes, Max." Mrs. Childs spoke from the front of the room. "23^3 is correct..." **{Authors Note: I won't do much of these, but I just wanted to tell you I don't know how she would sign that either...}** She wrote on the board. Fang nudged me.  
"I didn't know you spoke sign language..." he said.  
Snidely, not thinking he would understand me, I signed in whole words, "I didn't think you spoke." But, because my life is full of great things, he chuckled and smirked at me.  
"No, contrary to popular belief, I'm not mute." I looked at him sharply from the corner of my eye, giving him my glare. Most people flinch at its intensity. His eyes widened as he realized that since I can understand him without looking at his mouth to lip-read, I must not be deaf, and therefore am probably mute. "Well, I didn't mean it as a jab," he recovered quickly.  
I nodded, signing, "Okay, Fang." As a test to see if he understood me, or was just guessing at my replies which, I understand, would be highly unlikely. Thomas and Ella stared at us.  
Fang shook his head, mock weaved through the words he said next, which made me want to hug him and/or stare and laugh at him. Of course, laughing was using my voice, which I prohibit myself from. "Okay, Max."  
"Alex, Max, cut it out. Pay attention, we're working with negative exponents and zeros."

* * *

As the bell rang, Fang got his stuff from his desk and walked up to Mrs. Childs. I got my stuff too, and Ella walked over to me. "Want me to show you to your next class?" She asked. I signed yes to her, and she took it in.  
"You know, when we were in first grade, we all learned sign language, so we know the alphabet, and some words. Like, water. And night." She laughed. "I'm just sure those will come in handy. But, Fang's little sister is deaf and we're tight friends, so we know Angel well. We learned a lot of sign-language from her, so we can kind of understand you. Oh, and who I mean by 'we', is Fang, Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy. You don't know Nudge or Iggy, but you know Gazzy. Thomas? Yeah, that him. Nudge sooo likes -" I slapped a hand over her mouth. I already had a lot to take in. Fang is Angel's older brother? So... that means Mrs. Childs is his mother? They look nothing alike!  
"Sorry," Ella said as I pried my hand off her face. "So, what do you have?" She asked.  
"Health." I spelled out.  
"Great! I have that same class!" She led me down a hallway and took a right, past two or three doors, and into a room with some eighth graders in it, waiting for a teacher to make an appearance. We approached the same strawberry blonde I'd seen at the bus stop, and took a seat next to him. The teacher was still a no-show.  
"Hey Iggy!" Ella smiled brightly at him. Way to be obvious, Ella.  
"Ellsa! Who's your friend?"  
"Oh!" She shook her head and turned to me as if just remembering I was there. Pft. "Iggy, this is Max. Max, Iggy."  
"Hey, bro. What's up?" He asked, giving me a sup-nod.

Bro?  
Ella felt the prickly vibes coming off me and looked at me. "Max? What's wrong?"  
"Did he seriously just call be bro?" I asked her, using whole signs and going fast.  
"Um...bro..." She thought. "Oh! I'm sorry, Max, Iggy's blind." I let the scrunch from my eyes go away and looked at his scowl.  
"Okay, what'd I miss?" He asked.  
"Iggy, Max is... mute. She speaks sign language." She turned to me again. "Angel, Fang's little sister, and Iggy don't really have the best conversations. Angel just traces letters in Iggy's hand when she wants to talk to him, and Iggy does the same to Angel's hand. He'll understand you if you trace letters in his hand."  
She smiled at me as if it was perfectly normal. Iggy held out his hand. "I'm ready, cap'n." Slowly, I traced the letters to my name out on his palm. He smiled.  
"Hello, Max. Nice to meet you." I nodded, and then Ella relayed it to Iggy.  
Iggy sighed. "I suppose it won't be an easy friendship." I smiled.

* * *

After our health instructor, Mr. P, came to his class, we did boring health stuff. When the bell rang, Ella said she had to go to tech lab and ran off. Iggy picked up his books and navigated his way through the desks and chairs like a pro. He turned to me, almost looking exactly where my eyes were.  
"I can bring you to our class, if you want. What do you have?" He held his hand out as I looked at my schedule. I spelled out Art. "Okey-dokey." Iggy led me through the halls and to a room at the corner of the conjoined halls and left me to sit with his desk partner, Thomas. The desk next to them, had the mocha skinned girl from the bus stop and she and Thomas were talking a lot, and there was a free seat next to her. On the other side of that desk, there was Fang, and a girl with short brown hair and brown eyes.  
I walked up to the teacher. "You're Max?" He asked. I nodded. "Okay, go sit down by Nudge, sweetie." He said kindly, bopping me on the head with an empty water bottle. I flinched unnoticeably and walked over to where he pointed to the girl Thomas was talking to. As soon as I sat down beside her, she turned to me.  
"Hi! What's your name? I'm Nudge, it's nice to meet you! Not the type of meat like, burgers, even though burgers aren't that bad, I guess, but I meant the type of meet when you're introduced to a stranger! Not that you're a stranger at that point, I guess, because you've already met them, but you know what I mean! Or do you? Because I'm sure there must be a way to make you understand me. Hmm, let's see, I could put it this way. How about -" A hand wrapped around Nudge's mouth from in back of her and pulled away just as quickly.  
"Ew! You licked me!" I heard Thomas say from behind her.  
"Serves you right, Gazzy." She said.

I think my ears are bleeding. I rubbed them, stunned in shock from the girl in front of me. She could talk.  
I heard a deep chuckle from behind me and looked to see Fang smiling at me. My stomach made that flip-flop motion and I ignored it. I was probably just hungry.  
Mr. Tompkins got our attention at the front of the class. "Guys! Listen up. We're starting a new project! We're going to be making a collage." Everyone groaned. "Hey, wait. I haven't told you what you're making it out of, yet." He waited. "You're gonna be making it on a huge poster-board with your own drawings. Markers, Colored pencils, crayons, glitter, anything you want. You're paired with your desk partner for this project. Go."  
Lots of kids got up and ran to the supply closet, including Nudge, who was probably the first up. She came back to the table within seconds with all of the afore mentioned supplies. I smiled at her.  
"Max." I signed, answering the question she had asked me earlier. She looked at me and sighed in pity.  
"I'm sorry. I don't know much sign language. Angel and Fang tried teaching it to me, but, it's not like they're bad teachers, I'm just a bad student, so I don't know much. I tried to learn, but I always have so much to say and ASL just seems so slow for all of my talking! Maybe I'll try to learn again... Then I can understand you! That would be awesome! Then we can be best friends! And we can have sleepovers, do each others hair, and nails, and talk about boys! Won't that be uh-may-zing? It so totally will!"  
Fang and Gazzy popped up at the same time, appearing near our desk, putting their elbows on the desk and their heads in their hands. "Can we come?" Thomas asked in a girly voice.  
"I so totally wanna braid your hair Nudge!" Fang said, smiling a fake smile and looking up. "And, Max, I'll paint your nails! I have this pink that would look perfect for -" Nudge hit him on the shoulder and I derfed him upside the head. Derfing someone is when you hit them with your lower palm on the head. They sat back down, cackling like idiots after high-fiving.  
"Pink isn't my color, Stupid." I signed to Fang. He shrugged.  
"I wouldn't know. But we can take care of that..." His eyebrows wiggled, but I was reminded once again that Fang's little sister was Angel. I was about to question him, but Nudge got my attention first.  
"Max, wanna start on our project? I'm going to draw all of my friends! Maybe they'll be your friends, too! Have you met Ella yet? She's my bestie! She's like my sister, but she's not! Because, obviously, we look nothing alike. Well, except that we both have brown eyes, and pink lips, but other than that, there's really not much comparison! Ohemgee! I just had a fantastic thought! You and Fang should so -"  
"Hey Nudge! Guess what?" The girl sitting beside Fang said. I was curious as to what Nudge was going to say, but I looked to the other girl. She had glasses and a black scarf with orange and red fuzz balls, and an orange dress with brown leggings and... no shoes?  
"What?"  
"Max's ears have blood coming out of them."  
"Who's she?" I asked Fang.  
"That's Dana." Fang signed back. "This is her sign." He made a swirling motion with his ring finger on his right hand. I nodded.  
"What's your sign?"  
"This." He held up a bent finger to his mouth. "Angel made it up." I smiled and showed him mine, which is plainly locking your thumbs over the other, kind of like a butterfly. **{A/N: You know what I mean, right? Like, how you make a butterfly with your hand... never-mind.}** He smiled at me.  
"Like a bird." He signed. I thought about it and nodded.  
"Yeah. Like a bird."  
I turned back to Nudge, watching her draw little people. I recognized Thomas and Ella. I started in the top corner of the poster-board with a mechanical pencil and drew a flower - sunflower - and then I made a little fairy flitting around it. I wasn't too bad at drawing. I was no Van Gogh or anything, but I wasn't as great Dana.  
I'd looked over once, and she was basically shoving Fang out of the way to make room for her drawings. I glanced at what she was drawing, and was frozen in shock. She had drawn a whole picture of her, her friends, {I'm guessing, because I don't think you usually hug your enemies, but how would I know?} and they looked amazing. She was coloring and shading them now, using every color.  
I tapped on Fang's shoulder, shocking myself, which is weird, and he looked up. "Will you tell Dana I think that she's an amazing artist?" He nodded, and picked up his head so I could see what he was working on.  
Dana looked over at me and grinned. "Thanks, Max!" I smiled at her, peeling my eyes off of Fang's drawing. As soon as she went back to work, my eyes were glued to the side Fang had been sketching on. He'd drawn my hands, exactly how they look when I sign my name, the whole butterfly - or bird - thing, and he'd drawn a bird over it, not covering my hands up, kind of like a faded, thinned out photograph under the real thing. And he'd drawn it well. I looked up at his face, and he was looking at me. Or... maybe he wasn't. He was just looking at my drawing.  
"You're good." He signed.  
"Thanks, you too. I suck at drawing hands."  
He chuckled and got back to work.  
"Max, that's great! Do you like my chibis?" Nudge said in probably the shortest string of words she'd ever said since she knew how to speak in full sentences.  
"They're great!" I signed. Forgetting, I turned to Fang and signed it again.  
"Oh. Thanks! I like yours too! Okay so Gazzy, do you think I should maybe..." I tuned her out and colored in my drawings. After a couple minutes, I turned to see Fang discreetly nodding his head to his iPod.  
"Jamming out?" I asked sarcastically as if I'd known him my whole life.  
"Totally." I grabbed the headphone he wasn't using and stuck it in my ear. He wasn't listening to screamo, like I would've thought, but instead he was listening to Skillet. It wasn't horrible music, but I took his iPod and sat back in my chair, careful not to rip the headphone from his ear. I flicked through his music, and a glance up told me Fang was looking at me oddly.  
I looked back down back to his black iPod and found a band I love. I pressed play on one of their songs, and drums sounded.  
_There's a drumming noise inside my head_  
_That starts when you're around_  
_I swear that you could hear it_  
_It makes such an almighty sound_

_There's a drumming noise inside my head_  
_That throws me to the ground_  
_I swear that you could hear it_  
_It makes such an almighty sound_

_Louder than sirens_  
_Louder than bells_  
_Sweeter than heaven_  
_And hotter than hell._

Fang listened to the song, and I made little balloon letters on my paper. I set the iPod back on Fang's desk.  
I think I might have made a couple friends. I thought public school would be way worse, but this is nice. People aren't as mean as they are on the shows. That's all stereotypical. Everyone here has been very nice to me. Perfectly fine.  
I heard the clicking of high-heels walk in the door and looked up to see a girl with flaming red hair walk in. She had a very low-cut tank-top on and a pair of shorts. Make-up was plaster onto her face, and frankly? She was disgusting. I saw her walk up to Mr. Tompkins and pass him a note. "Sorry," she said in a high squeaky voice, "I was at the dentists."  
"That's alright, Lissa," the teacher replied.  
"Um... There's someone in my seat."  
"Oh, yeah, um... Sit with Taylor."  
"Oh... Okay."  
I looked to the left where Fang was staring at Lissa. He had this creeped out look on his face, lips pulled back in snarl. Lissa walked by, grazing her hand across his shoulder.  
"Lissa, don't touch me."  
"Oh, it's alright, Alex... I won't bite." She said, making me want to barf. It was either that or all the perfume she was wearing. As soon as she left, Fang looked over and I made a gagging face. He nodded and looked like he was in physical pain.  
"_Disgusting._"

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**R&R?  
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	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! I GOT FOUR REVIEWS! 8D**

**I'm so happy! **

**But guess what guys? I STILL DON'T HAVE ANY REVIEWS FOR CAMP CAMMIWAKKI! And that one is the best one I've written for a while! Mainly because I've finished it, I just have to edit the chapters for you... But I DO have 22 for Anything But Average! I don't think I've ever had that many reviews from people I don't know on ONE story!**

**Anyways, this if for youuuuuu, and I hope you like it.**

**...**

**Y'all know who owns these books, right? Because I'm pretty sure I don't have a "dislike" fanpage anywhere made by angry faxlovers for ANGEL and FANG. Because those books stunk.**

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**Chapter 3:**

Fang offered to lead me to the lunch room after art, and Iggy tagged along. Fang was like my personal translator, not even just for Iggy. Even Ella and especially Nudge, who I figured out was really named Monique, had trouble with understanding me. I figured out that Thomas was Fang's little brother with a crazy brain, and that's how he had our math class, and therefore had to have some of our required electives because of the differences in schedules. Thomas understood me well too, and if I had either one of them there with me, the others wouldn't have much of a problem.  
Fang opened the door for me and waved me in, ever the gentlemen. Iggy walked right in before me. Fang shrugged. Moment over.  
They brought me over to a rectangular table with built in benches. This is how they were when I went to school in Mesa. I sat down at one end and Fang sat beside me, Iggy across from me. Nudge and Ella ran in later, squee-ing all the way. Ella sat beside Iggy, and Nudge sat on the other side of Fang. Thomas came in and sat beside Ella, smiling across at Nudge.  
Did I detect... no, no. Can't be.  
CRAP. "I forgot my lunch, I'll be right back." I signed to Fang. Ella was watching and got up.  
"I'll come with!" She said excitedly. I started to get up but then someone kneed me in the stomach and I fell onto the ground. Lissa looked down at me on the floor.  
"Oops! Sorry..." She said in an extremely sorry tone. You caught my sarcasm, right? I was about to flip her a sign every being knew, but Iggy beat me to her.  
"Lissa, what's wrong with you?" He shouted, quieting the whole cafeteria. The seventh and eighth graders were mixed for this lunch, and everyone was still. My stomach was hurting badly. Last week Jeb had made my stomach his personal kicking target and it was extremely black and blue there. Lissa's "accidental" kneeing didn't help a lot. Tears were beginning to prick in the corners of my eyes.  
"What are you talking about?" She asked Iggy as she rolled her eyes.  
"You know exactly what he's talking about." Ella piped up, standing and cocking her hip.  
Fang got up and helped me up, and I fumbled my feet standing up. Man, if anyone found out about me on my first day, Jeb would kill me.  
"No, I don't. Thing got in the way, I tripped. Oops."  
Before I could feel the tears trailing down my cheeks, I ripped my arms away from Fang's tight grip and ran towards the bathroom Mrs. Strat had showed me earlier. Slamming the door to a stall, I slid down the wall and wrapped my arms around my knees. That had hurt. A few minutes later, I heard cautious foot steps make their way over to my stall.  
"Max?" I heard Ella's voice. I rapped my knuckles on the tile floor to let her know I was in here. Somehow, she managed to jiggle the door open and slipped inside, shutting it behind her.  
"Max, you should know better." She said, frowning down at me. I looked up, question written all over my face.  
"That's highly unsanitary." She smiled at me and I grinned, showing my teeth for the first time that day. I felt self conscious about opening my mouth. I don't know why, something to do with not talking, I think. Like, people would ask why I can't talk if I can open my mouth.  
"And, you shouldn't let Lissa think she got to you." She said more seriously. I looked back down, and hesitantly she sat down on the floor across from me against the wall. For what seemed like a long time, we just sat there, analyzing each other. She seemed very friendly, and she let me have required space.  
When the bell rang, I made no move to get up. I was hungry, I was tired, and I hurt all over. Ella didn't stir either. It felt nice to be with her, she was truly kind, not something I experience often.

When we finally decided to leave, Ella brought me to my locker, and then we stopped at hers. I told her that I had English class, and she brought me to the door.  
"Good luck. Mrs. Ayotte's awesome, but she can be a dragon when she wants to, so just... tell her-" The door swung open and an old woman in her late fifties walked out. Curly blonde hair sprouting from her head, a scowl on her face.  
"And you are?" She asked.  
"Maximum Ride." I signed. She looked at my hands, then my mouth, and then my eyes.  
"Ah, yes, I was told about you. Maximum, was it? Well, come on in. Thank you for showing her to class Ms. Martinez. Would you happen to need a pass?" Ella nodded eagerly, probably glad for the excuse.  
Mrs. Ayotte wrote out a few words on a slip of paper and handed it to Ella. She waved at me and left, down the hall. Then, the elderly teacher turned to me, and I was suddenly aware of all eyes on me. I didn't look over until she looked over the classroom. She went into the back and grabbed the desk that faced the wall, probably for students that got out of hand. She dragged it over to me, as I'd stood in the back.  
"Where would you like to sit?" She asked politely. I looked around and saw Fang, a black splotch in my vision. If anyone would help me in this class, it would be Fang. He can tell the class what I say and the like.  
"Over there." I signed and pointed so she understood.  
"Mr. Alex, you have a desk mate." Mrs. Ayotte sing-sang as she moved the desk for me. I grabbed the chair that had been pushed out of the way and sat it beside him. She brought me a binder full of stuff that they'd probably done throughout the year and sat it on the desk. Think you'll be able to make up the most important of those in a week, right? There's only a few, and I starred the ones that are most important."  
I nodded and signed. "Thank you." She looked at me unsure if I was asking a question.  
"She said, 'Thank you,'" Fang interjected. She looked at him through wide-eyes, then recomposed himself.  
"Ah, so this is why you wanted to sit next to him." She smiled, then walked up to the front of the class and started with her lesson. We were learning about apostrophes and the ways to use them. Psh, I learned this in 5th grade at therapy school when I was learning how to make talk in sign-language.  
I ignored it, acting like I was paying attention. Pretending to take notes. Another advantage about being in the back, was you weren't spied on all the time. You could draw silly pictures of unicorns and fairies or whatever the heck you wanted, and most times you weren't caught.  
"Hmm, creative leprechaun..." Fang murmured next to me. "Is that an alien?" I smiled faintly and shook my head. It was supposed to be a gnome, not an alien.  
"Gnome." I signed out, since I didn't know the proper sign for it. He nodded and focused back on the board.

After English, I had a study-hall, and I didn't know anyone in it except for Dana, but she was sitting beside a girl that I had seen earlier, but wearing a different outfit. Odd, I thought. Another girl was perched beside her, and all were laughing, staring at the screen of a laptop.  
I ignored them and took out the binder I'd been given by Mrs. Ayotte.  
By the time the belle rang for our last class, I hadn't gotten much done. Dana and her two friends had come over and shown me a video they were laughing at, and when the girl I thought I'd seen wearing something else asked me why I didn't laugh, Dana "politely" explained how laughing used your voice-box. Then, Mr. Brig told us to quiet down or he'll send us to the office.  
After the bell rang, I was caught by the arm and flinched. I looked over to see Nudge who asked me what I had next.  
"Team building, but I have no idea what it means." I signed, forgetting completely that she didn't have a clue as to what I was saying.  
"Um I have no idea what you're saying, so I'll guess. Um, cooking? Knitting, chess, drama, even though that's after or before school, so I guess not, but anyways, there's also, math team, team building, health, which is a required class, so I don't know why you'd have it-" I stopped her before she could go on, motioning backwards. "Math team?" I shook my head. "Team building?" I nodded furiously.  
"That's great! Maybe Mr. Tompkins will put us in the same team! That would be sooo awesome! We pick team colors and team names, and play tons of games and it's sooo fun! I think Ella has it too! And Iggy really wanted it, but he really wanted cooking too, so I don't know if he's in either class, or whatever, but I know Fang's in it! You see, Ella and I noticed Fang was sick one day, and he had been really adamant on not doing team building, because then he'd have to wear something other than black, and he hates that, so yeah, we went to Mrs. Strat and asked if Fang could be put on team building! She asked us why we were asking for him, so we said that he texted us and told us to tell her, because he thought that that day was the last day to get it in for 3rd trimester! It was so-" I held my hand up to her mouth gently, since I didn't even know her. But this was just... too much talking.  
"Sorry..." Nudge apologized once I'd taken my hand from her mouth. We came to a door that Mr. Tompkins had met me at this morning.  
"Hey, kiddo. You're in team building?" I nodded. "That's great. Take a seat anywhere."  
We looked around the room to find Ella waving us over. Iggy was grinning beside her, and Fang was silently fuming behind them. I tried to hide my smile as Nudge towed me over to her group of friends.  
Mr. Tompkins spoke up front about how we were dividing teams, and then separated us into different groups. From August to December had to line up according to date on one side, and it appeared as if I was the oldest. A couple people down was Fang in November. Then, on the other side of the room, he had a group of January to April, and Dana and Iggy were in that one, Iggy only 3 from Dana who had come in late.  
In the group from May to July was Nudge and Ella. Ella was in the beginning of the line, and Nudge near the end.  
"Okay, now, I'm going to go around the room and decide which color you're on."  
He came to me and pointed. "Orange. Blue. Green. Purple. Orange. Blue. Green. Purple. Orange." He did that for the rest of the line, and then moved to the next group, and did it in a separate order.  
"Blue. Orange. Purple. Green. Blue. Orange. Purple. Green. Blue. Orange. Purple. Green. Blue." Then he moved onto the third group and did it again.  
"Purple. Green. Orange. Blue. Purple. Green. Orange. Blue. Okay, everyone go to your corner! I've hung up a colored band in each corner of the room, go to it."  
Everyone scuttled around and I noticed Ella and Nudge do a little victory dance, and Dana and Iggy doing something called a... Sorme high-five? Where you purposely miss...  
Fang walked over looking more grim then ever as he came into the orange corner with me. "I just had to get the brightest of all colors." I smirked, thinking of a couple snarky comebacks.  
"Well, it musn't be too bad. You have me." I decided on signing. Sarcastic comebacks were always a winner.  
He turned and grinned at me, temporary blinding me.  
This should be fun.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello readers! **

**So, this is a notice if you would like to still read my stuff. Due to some identity issues with my account lately, and wanting to start over, I have created a new account, I will not delete this one, and I will still read any reviews I get, I will check whenever I get on to my other account, and there has been a bunch of other stuff that has caused me to do this as well. **

**So, as I'm starting over, I thought you might want to follow me. If you do, you can find me at ChemicallyBurned. I have a blog to go along with my new account, where you see previews and news updates for new stories and new chapters. I may move two of my stories that I've loved, and I have one story already started, though it hasn't been uploaded to ****fan fiction yet. I will be releasing a release date and a small preview on my blog, as well as pictures or anything I do for my stories. You will be up to date on any of my stories if you follow my blog, and you can get exclusive information. The summary for my upcoming story has already been released on my blog, and more is coming soon.**

**chemiburned dot blogspot dot com**

**I hope you at least check it out, and maybe try to see when my new story will come out, and which two I will be carrying over onto my new account. Thanks for taking the time to read this. ;)**

**~Dez (Chemi)**


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